The present invention relates to exercisers, and relates more particularly a treadmill of the motorless manually operated type.
Various treadmill exercisers have been disclosed for walking or running exercises, and have appeared on the market. These treadmill exercisers commonly comprise a frame structure supporting a treadmill assembly which includes a plurality of transverse rollers, and a track mounted around the transverse rollers in a sloping direction. When the player hikes or runs on the track, the track is moved, and the rollers are turned by the track. Because the rollers are rotated when the track is moved by the legs of the player, little resistance is produced and transmitted to the legs of the player. However, when one hikes or runs in the open field, a wind resistance will be produced and acted against the body, and therefore one is forced to consume much oxygen. Therefore, conventional treadmill exercisers cannot achieve the desired exercising effect. Furthermore, because the track is disposed in a sloping position, an inertial force will be produced from the track when the track is moved by the legs to turn the rollers. This inertia force tends to cause the player to fall when he desires to slow down the pace or disembark.
Power operated treadmill exercisers obviate this tendency with the drag that the motor hook up has on the treadmill. That is, the motor and its connection to the treadmill assembly serve to effectively retard the track movement in response to the user controlling the motor so as to permit the user to slow down or disembark without falling. Motorless manually operated treadmill exercisers do not have motor control for the speed of the track which the user can match. Instead, the speed of the track is created by the user and without a retardant such as a motor hook up, slowing down the treadmill movement becomes more of a problem to the user. This is particularly true where the treadmill assembly includes one or more fly wheels to stabilize treadmill movement.
There exists a need to provide a manually operated treadmill exerciser with a retarding assembly which can also fulfill the need to simulate wind impinging on the user.